Presidential Election Panic, Third Party Candidates

Things are looking pretty dismal within the main two political parties pushing their potential presidential candidates.

On one hand, we have the first female candidate to be nominated under a major party who is also constantly haunted by allegations of crimes and scandals and a changing personality. On the other hand, we have an unqualified orange prune who has problems keeping his bullshit-spewing mouth shut and has also taken advantage of taxpayers by “knowing the system.”

This dilemma has brought a new light to other options. Suddenly, the names of other candidates running for president have popped into conversations in the news and social media.

Is it possible then, that another party besides the main two, could be a hopeful contender? Well, out of 27 third-party candidates, you’ve got a lot to choose from.

Due to the limited length of this paper, only candidates associated with a party will be shown. Out of the 27 declared candidates, there are nine who are associated with a party, and here they are, in no specific order:

First off is Chris Keniston running under the Veterans Party of America. As a veteran himself, he wants to make sure that we strengthen our military. He believes in enforcing security along all of our borders, even the one we share with Canada.

Chris Keniston (Courtesy of veteranspartyofamerica.org)

Keniston also believes in reforming education because of his experiences. He was unable to go to college right after high school, and so he has pursued a higher education throughout his adult life. Because of this, Keniston knows the difference a college degree makes in the workforce. On foreign policy, Keniston agrees with his party’s platform of non-interference, but not isolationism as he believes that we still need to be leaders in the global economy and community.

Moving on, we have the Constitutionalist Party (not to be confused with the Constitution Party) candidate, James D. Criveau. His campaign website is very lackluster. The home page is his picture and a scrawl of text, full of bolds, underlines, italics, and CAPITALIZED WORDS THAT MAKE YOU THINK HE’S SCREAMING.

James D. Criveau (Courtesy of theconstitutionalistparty.com)

As the nominee of the Constitutionalist party, Criveau defends the constitution. He wants to be the voice of the people. But I think what most defines him as a candidate is this excerpt from his campaign website, “WE SHALL STAND TALL AGAINST ALL OF THOSE EUROPIEAN SOCIALIST, AND TO THOSE WHO WISH TO DO US HARM!”

Third on the list is Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party. I’ve noticed some of his campaign signs popping up here and there.

Gary Johnson (Courtesy of National Review)

Johnson is for cutting government spending and simplifying the tax code to eliminate loopholes. He also wishes to eliminate government interference in the lives of Americans, including government surveillance, treating drug abuse as a disease and not a crime, and not restricting marriage.

Another area he wants to cut back on is military interference with other countries. Johnson believes that it is because of our “imperialistic foreign policy” that terrorist groups such as ISIS, al Qaeda, etc. have been able to gain members.

Next up we have Darrell Castle with the Constitution Party (not to be confused with the Constitutionalist Party). Castle, first and foremost, wants to defend the Constitution.

Darrell Castle (Courtesy of theblaze.com)

Castle wants a limited government, and wants to cut taxes stating, “If you want the right to keep all your income and use it as you see fit, choose me.”

He is pro-life/anti-abortion. He also wants to withdraw from the UN and end the federal reserve.

Fifthly, we have Jill Stein with the Green Party. The Green Party’s main focus is on sustaining the environment. That means an emphasis on moving to 100 percent renewable energy and investing in public transit, sustainable agriculture, and conservation.

Jill Stein (Courtesy of NBC News)

Stein wants a single-payer health care system and an elimination of poverty by guaranteeing access to food, water, housing, and utilities. She also wants to guarantee “tuition-free, world-class public education from preschool through university. End high stakes testing and public school privatization.”

Stein will also move towards setting a $15-hour federal minimum wage; breaking up “too-big-to-fail” banks; democratizing the Federal Reserve; making Wall Street, big corporations, and the rich pay their fair share of taxe;, creating democratically run public banks and utilities; and replacing corporate trade agreements with fair trade agreements.

Moving on, we have Ken Cross with the Reform Party. Cross believes in strongly adhering to the Constitution and working towards balancing the budget.

Ken Cross (Courtesy of www.kencross.com)

A specific plan that Cross wants to achieve is evaluating the effectiveness of the “No Child Left Behind” program and replacing it with a “Quality Education Initiative” which would concern itself with the development of all students.

Eighth up, we have Clifton Roberts with the Humane Party and a sparkly campaign website.

Clifton Roberts (Courtesy of http://vivaglammagazine.com)

Roberts and the Humane party put a huge emphasis on animal rights and environmental protection policies.

A lot of what Roberts will work on is what he claims as “data-driven,” such as “a data-driven approach to a balanced federal budget” and “a data-driven approach to exposing the malignancies of … ‘genetic modification.’”

On the topic of health care reform, Roberts suggests “’health ownership’, a crowd-sourcing best-practice health ownership model, as well as inject additional competition into the healthcare insurance marketplace.”

And finally, we have Zolan Istvan, the Transhumanist Party candidate. His campaign website states, “A TRANSHUMANIST AIMING TO PUT SCIENCE, HEALTH, & TECHNOLOGY AT THE FOREFRONT OF AMERICAN POLITICS.”

Zolan Itsvan (Courtesy of www.zolanitsvan.com)

Istvan and the Transhumanist party want to “lay groundwork for rights for other future advanced sapient beings like conscious robots and cyborgs.”

Istvan is also thinking ahead to “implement policy for the phasing out of all individual taxes based on robots taking most jobs in the next 25 years” and “because most jobs will be lost to robots and software in the next 30 years, support and draft logistics for a Universal Basic Income for every American.”

On Istvan’s campaign website, they even have a quote from the Washington Post, stating that he is “the only candidate promising eternal life” and he campaigns with his tour bus that has been dubbed the “Immortality Bus.”

Overall, I suggest that you take the time to look at all the options there are, to move towards opening up the presidential spot to more than just the people running under the two major spots.